3 – Poor footwork – standing too close to the ball when striking it, especially on his forehand wing

4 – Poor racquet acceleration – not fully committing to his shots – not maintaining full racquet speed throughout his entire swing

5 – Poor racquet follow through – swinging over the ball instead of through the ball – creating too much spin and not enough pace and depth on his shots

I emphasize that these are INTERMITTENT flaws occurring not on every shot, but on far too many shots for Rafa to be as consistent and successful as he used to be. They stem from his increasingly cautious, defensive, passive shot selection and mindset over the last 2-plus years.

The good news is that Rafa can correct these flaws fairly quickly and easily with proper coaching from someone whose tennis knowledge and expertise he totally respects and will listen to – from a super-coach such as Andre Agassi, Mats Wilander or Jimmy Connors. The bad news is that he appears totally unwilling to hire such a person.

It has become all too obvious that Rafa can no longer compete for slam trophies with his current support team. A major personnel change is needed ASAP if he plans to ever win another big tournament again.

PS – I am a former club teaching pro, successful intercollegiate and amateur player and lifelong observer of the pro game dating back to the early 1970s, so I know more than most fans do about the sport of tennis. Furthermore, my observations about Rafa’s tactical and technical problems have been echoed by several top coaches and former players such as Rod Laver, Chris Evert, John McEnroe, Nick Bollettieri, Larry Stefanki and Paul Annacone.